** Reply to note from Joseph Arkins <arkins@banet.net> Thu, 09 Dec
1999 11:59:41 -0500
> This is just speculation, Fred, but I think that the "mirror image"
> aspect of the daguerrotype is partially attributable to the light
> reflecting off the mercury/silver amalgam in an amount proportional to
> the original exposure. Were the image to be developed in a
> conventional chemical developer, you would have a black,
> non-reflective deposit which mightn't have the same effect.
I've no idea whether development of the daguerrotype latent image with
a conventional developer would work, but it does seem clear that a
developed silver image need not be black and non-reflective. If this were
so, the Ambrotype wouldn't work, since it uses exactly the same sort of
diffuse reflection as the daguerrotype, but in an 'emulsion' layer rather
than on the surface of a metal plate. In fact, any *thin* [low density]
silver image in a conventional camera film should give an optical reversal,
and appear as a positive image when front-lit, with a dark
area/surface/space behind it. This arrangement of course mimics the
daguerrotype.
stan
-- Stan Johnson sjohnson@gwi.net 12/09/99 01:12pm
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